Participatory research was in the news this month with the signature on March 20 of the Charter on Participatory Science and Research in France. In the presence of Thierry Mandon, Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research, some thirty research institutions and organisations from civil society signed this document, which specifies their commitments in terms of values, deontological principles, scientific integrity and conditions for success.

INRA is one of the signatories of this Charter, convinced of the scientific added value of this approach, notably when responding to particular research challenges linked to the complexity of our modern world.

But what does this term mean? The signatories agreed on the following definition: "participatory science and research offer a means to generate scientific knowledge where actors from civil society participate either individually or collectively with research scientists, in an active and deliberate manner".

Numerous examples of this type of research exist within INRA. One particular case was highlighted at a symposium organised on 27 February 2017 during the Salon International de l’Agriculture to report the results of a project carried out jointly by INRA and the CLCV consumer association (Consumption, Housing and Living Conditions). Having involved both scientists from INRA and volunteers from the association, this study focused on the perception of food labelling by consumers and the information they would like to be given and would use. This project is described in more detail in the first article of this newsletter.

You can find out about other INRA participatory projects from the following videos:

In the context of a Qualiment® project, an ecodesign approach has been developed which combines product quality and environmental impact. It is applied to the case of the functional preservation of yeasts, in order to define a generic framework that might be applicable to any food transformation process. We are now looking for companies to participate in establishing proof of concept of its application to their expectations and constraints.

A consortium of scientists working with the INRA has, for the first time, completed an inventory of all the genes in the gut microbiota of pigs. This work opens the way towards a clearer understanding of the functions of the microbiota and identifying new markers for resistance to biotic and abiotic stress in pigs.

Fusarium attacks, affecting straw cereals, have increased during the past twenty years. Detection of the presence of this fungus and its mycotoxins in grain is an essential guarantee of harvest health and quality. INRA has designed a non-destructive and reliable multispectral imaging technique for use on wheat kernels that can detect this contamination.

APILand, or Application Programming Interface Landscape: a Java and open-source software toolbox that can generate a 3D meta-representation of the landscape, rolling window spatial analyses and simulations of covers under agronomic constraints.

By focusing the skills of 25 research units and their partners on a multidisciplinary approach and by proposing a research-training-transfer continuum, the #DigitAg Institute for the Convergence of Digital Agriculture, based in Montpellier, aims to become a reference centre for the development of digital agriculture and companies working in this area.

Ticks vector major diseases in animals, including humans. They represent an ever greater threat. This report highlights key discoveries by INRA researchers related to these tiny invertebrates that have a disproportionately large influence on disease transmission.

The 3BCAR Carnot Institute is funding five scientific revitalisation projects in 2017 which, through the alliance of research strengths in the network, will enable it to respond to the future needs of industry.

The European Inno4Grass project brings together 20 partners from eight countries to give a boost to grassland innovation. Christian Huyghe, Scientific Director Agriculture at INRA, is coordinating the participation of INRA teams for this project, including the head of the Regional Scientific and Technical Information team in Poitou-Charentes. The seminar to kick off the project was held in Berlin from 14 to 16 February 2017.